Frequencies

References

WHCN

WHCN ("The River 105.9") is an adult hits music formatted radio station based in Hartford, Connecticut. The city of license is Hartford. The iHeartMedia, Inc. outlet broadcasts at 105.9MHz with an effective radiated power of 16,000 watts from West Peak State Park in Meriden, CT. Its format blends classic rock and new wave, with current and recurrent hit songs of today. It is similar to the "JACK-FM" formats that have been heard across the U.S. Studios are at 10 Columbus Boulevard, in Hartford, Connecticut. "The River" brand, shared with many adult contemporary stations nationwide, is a local reference to the Connecticut River.

WHCN has a long history, going back to when it was licensed as W1XSL in 1936. It subsequently became W1XPW, W65H, WDRC-FM and WFMQ before arriving at WHCN in 1958. The call letters stood for "Hartford Concert Network." WHCN remained a Classical music station from that point until shifting to underground rock in 1969. The station was a runaway success when it broadcast from the transmitter shack on Meriden Mountain. It was the only radio station in the state to play uninterrupted rock. All music no talk. Very hip DJs. The commercials were cool too. Everybody listened. Not enough can be said about that time period. The format was flipped to main stream album rock in late 1976. Known as "106-WHCN", it was very successful in the 1970s and the 1980s. It was home to the morning show Picozzi and The Horn, up until the mid-1990s. Picozzi would later move across town to WCCC-FM. WHCN flipped to Classic rock in the mid-1990s to compete for the older rock audience that grew up with WHCN, but changing owners would signal changes at WHCN as well. It would become "105-9 WHCN" and adapt a harder-edged classic rock sound billed as "Classic Rock that really rocks!". WHCN would be snapped up by Liberty Broadcasting and then SFX Broadcasting/Capstar, then AMFM and then Clear Channel Communications in 2000.

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